ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXLORATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF BENKOVSKI (Stefanka Ivanova – ivanova.stefanka@gmail.com) Over 100 concentrations of Lower Paleolithic flint artifacts were documented in an area, c. 3 km long, located in the valley of Kavalski Dol River. There is significant quantity of flint raw material in the region. The artifacts included nuclei, a scraper, an awl and splinters. The flint assemblages displayed a development in the technique of the production and the exploiting of the flint raw material. Some artifacts might belong to the Early Middle Paleolithic period (nuclei in the Levallois technique). These archaeological sites indicated that the Rhodope Mountains were on the migration routes of the early Homines who settled in Europe.